It should really come under Sport, but Joe Calzaghe’s fight against America’s Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins is big news to all Wales in the week leading up to the battle. And yes, Joe beats the fabled Yank to put himself in line for further big-money bouts in the US. And another veteran fighter’s back in action when one-time Tory AM Rod Richards (sacked in 1997 over his affair with a PR girl) spends a night in jail after decking a Tory canvasser on his Cardiff doorstep. The 61-year-old once known as Randy Rod is cautioned.

NATIONAL

A week after the Queen opens Heathrow’s long-awaited Terminal Five it’s a disaster area with scores of cancelled flights and thousands of missing bags. But chief executive Adam Applegarth walks away from that other disaster area Northern Rock with a £760,000 “golden goodbye” and a £304,000 pension despite the company’s £24bn debt.

But the nation is more concerned with Shannon Matthews, the nine-year-old missing schoolgirl – until it’s claimed that her disappearance was a scam by her mother Karen and relative Michael Donovan aimed at picking up £50,000 reward money when she’s “found”.

They face charges of child abuse and perverting the course of justice. Meanwhile, the parents of “genuine” missing three-year-old Maddie McCann and their friends labelled the “Tapas Nine” are questioned yet again by Portuguese police.

More than 50 arrests follow demonstrations against China’s crackdown on human rights in Tibet as the Olympic Flame is carried through London amidst calls for a boycott of the Beijing games and battles between Chinese heavies and protesters.

In Afghanistan Senior Aircraftsman Gary Thompson is the oldest British serviceman killed since the war began seven years ago.

The 51-year-old father of five daughters returned as a volunteer reservist. Airman Graham Livingstone, 23, dies in the same explosion.

INTERNATIONAL

The threat of civil war in Zimbabwe when Mugabe refuses to step down after his party is defeated in elections, while in Iraq 11 US servicemen die in one attack, 70 Iraqis in separate blasts. And 54 Burmese illegal immigrants suffocate in a packed container lorry taking them to Thailand as millions riot around the developing world when food shortages bring starvation in countries from Haiti to Cameroon.

America welcomes Pope Benedict XVI (and Gordon Brown), the Pope telling reporters on his plane that child abuse by priests is an evil that must be condemned, Brown simply being diplomatic with Dubya.

ROYALS

The £10m Diana Inquest ends with the verdict that she and Dodi al Fayed were unlawfully killed as a direct result of chauffeur Henri Paul’s “grossly negligent driving” and the actions of paparazzi hounding their car. Prince Phillip and MI5 are cleared of planning her death but Mohammed al Fayed continues to claim they murdered the couple.

And Prince William does the family no favours when he borrows a £10m RAF helicopter to fly (with Harry) to a stag party on the Isle of Wight.

SHOWBIZ

The Tardis lands again in Cardiff, more than eight million watching the new Doctor Who series.

Meanwhile, mouthy model Naomi Campbell is kicked off a US-bound plane at Heathrow after allegedly spitting at a cop trying to pull her out following her frenzied rage when one of her bags goes missing. Yes, from Terminal Five. She’s banned for life by BA.

Pete Doherty finally ends up behind bars: 14 weeks for breach of probation. And the body of TV presenter Mark Speight, 42, is found hanging in a remote part of Paddington Station three months after girlfriend Natasha Collins, 31, dies in their London flat after a cocaine binge.

SPORT

Delirium for City fans when the Bluebirds beat fellow Championship side Barnsley 1-0 – a result that means we’re up for the Cup at Wembley, 81 years after winning it. Can we do to Portsmouth what we did to Arsenal in 1927? The fans can’t wait. Only thing spoiling it for them: Swansea win promotion. Meanwhile, Ospreys show the way, beating Leicester 23-6 to win the Anglo-Welsh Cup.

Timmy Murphy wins the Grand National aboard Comply Or Die five years after being jailed for drunken disturbance on a plane. And sporting scandals when Formula One boss Max Mosley is filmed cavorting with five prostitutes while Birmingham City supremo Karren Brady and owner David Sullivan are arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud.

More great news for Cardiff: Sophia Gardens will host the Aussies for the first test of the Ashes series in July next year. But we’re wondering how long test cricket can last as the Indian Premier League opens, the world’s top players pocketing up to $1m for six weeks’ work.